The Deathly Hallows Games
by MARechter
Summary: After the battle of Hogwarts and after the children of the Golden Trio grew up, what happens next? It's the 20th annual Hunger Games, and witches and wizards have been participating for the past 20 years. Little do they know what trouble will stir when Genevieve Puckett is pulled as a tribute from District 8.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**The Twentieth Annual Hunger Games**

I wasn't a muggle, or whatever it was that they called non magical people. Squibs? I didn't know. Whatever it was, I wasn't it. Of course, I didn't know this when the fire nation took over. Just kidding, wrong fiction. I was from America, or what was left of it after the nuclear attack. Britain and all of the major countries had been destroyed, although for some reason Canada was untouched which just proves you don't mess with maple syrup. Canada had abandoned all of the other countries, building up walls so no one could cross the border. The American government morphed to 'fit' to our new problem. They blamed the people that didn't fit in, witches and wizards. It was a new Salem Witch trials, they believed that if they could kill every witch or wizard, they could stomp out the wizard gene. Every year two tributes from each district were picked to fight against each other in the Hunger Games. The surprise was that every year, the same type of people were picked. Witches and wizards. Anyone else was safe, as long as no one else had a child that had magic. As long as people kept on producing magical children, we'd keep on being used in the Hunger Games. I wasn't sure what would happen after it though, once they had finally 'gotten rid of' the last witch or wizard. Would they use regular people? Of course that was outrageous, the government may be corrupt, but it wasn't that corrupt. I was an anomaly. I wasn't supposed to be born. I was from two muggle parents but the wizard gene was strong on my mother's side, I guess that's what you get when you're a daughter of the Granger clan. My mother, a squib, taught me about her in secret. The only reason why squibs weren't killed was because they had almost no magic to use, thus deemed harmless. I learned from my mother how Hermonie Granger became the Minister of Magic and Harry Potter killed one of the darkest wizards of all time. Although it was interesting, it was useless to me now. That happened over forty years ago. I brushed back my brown hair, focusing on washing the dishes. We were in district 8, although it wasn't district 12, we were still not doing as well as the Capital or District 1. Our district's main industry was creating designs and fabrics, not a very elaborate place to work. When I turned 15 I started to work in one of the factories, stitching the badge of a Peacekeeper onto the uniform.

The 20th annual Hunger Games was starting this year, today was The Reaping. I knew my name wouldn't be in The Reaping, I had been hiding my magic ever since I had been a kid. My mom had made sure that I wouldn't show any of my magic. I wasn't too worried; I'd be over looked like every other year. None of my friends were witches or wizards either; my mother thought that it would draw suspicion on me. I looked around the room, seeing the faded white wallpaper with a pink floral pattern. There were faded white curtains hanging from the window in front of the sink, a sad looking lawn could be seen through the window. I looked up at the sky, seeing that it was a dreary gray. Usually the houses around here were piled high and built precariously, leaving little to no room in between the houses. It was a cramped living space and even our house was small. We had two bedrooms and one bathroom. The kitchen was probably the biggest part of the house. There wasn't much lighting though, what little was provided came from the windows and the weak light bulb that hung above the table that my father had created. I turned my attention back to the pile of plates on the counter that I still had to go through; I frowned, looking around the room. Just because I didn't practice magic outside didn't mean that I couldn't do any magic. I did it in moderation, small spells just to practice. Even though I knew there was basically no use to try. Even if I was really good at magic, at least from what my mother said, I could only do small spells without a wand. Another reason why it was hard for magic users to be in the Hunger Games, most had either been used to using wands and couldn't use magic once they were taken away, or they had never learned any magic, and were set up for failure. I glanced back at the dishes that were looming in front of me. I usually put off my chores until my parents started to yell, like most teenagers, which set me up to have this huge mess in front of me. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I pursed my lips, trying to figure out a spell that would quickly wash the dishes. I looked around the house one more time before I laughed, reminding myself that I was the only one up right now. It wasn't that early in the morning but both my parents worked late shifts into the night. My father was a teacher, working two jobs just to scrap by was hard on him. Once a year they were allowed to sleep in, The Reaping meant that they didn't have to work for that day. I glanced back at the dishes, finally the right spell coming to mind. I flicked my fingers in the dishes direction, "_purifico_" I whispered. I grinned in delight as the dishes one by one started to become clean. The smear of food that had been on them before was suddenly erased, moving to the other side of the counter before setting itself down. The other dishes soon followed. I felt a thrill run through me which always happened when I used magic, I felt like I could do anything. I glanced around the kitchen, tapping my finger to my chin. What else could I do? I glanced at the broom that was leaning against the wall. Of course it had been a flying broom a few decades ago but it had gotten old and no longer worked as well as it should have, not to mention trying to fly in the smog that was made from the factories was not a lovely idea. "_accio,"_ I whispered, watching as the broom flew across the room and came right into my hands. I smiled, before starting to brush the floor with it, trying to make it clean. I froze when I heard a knock on the door. My eyes grew wide and I dropped the broom, a loud clattering sound echoing after it. Had they seen me do magic? That was impossible though, no one could have heard me, I was too quiet. I just stared at the door in horror as the person on the other side knocked again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**The Reaping**

I glanced at the door, not sure what do to. I didn't know if I should open it or should I pretend that I didn't hear it and hide in my room? I wasn't sure if the person on the other side of the door has seen me use magic, there was a small chance that they could have but then again, there was a chance that they didn't. I picked up the broom that I had dropped, setting it back against the wall before slowly walking towards the door. I felt as if the distance from the kitchen to the hallway was an eternity, so many sceneries of what could happen running through my head. I put my hand on the doorknob, hoping for the last time that they didn't see me use magic. I turned the knob, pulling the door back and looking at the person in front of me. My first thought that ran through my head was, "oh shit," the man standing in front of me was in a tan suit, the symbol that I had been stitching onto uniforms for the past few years was staring me in the face. It was a Peacekeeper. I could only imagine being dragged by the back of my shirt down the road and towards the middle of the city, getting placed on the stage that they had every year for The Reaping, being told that I had been picked even before the names were picked. I kept on thinking that this was going to happen, that I was going to be taken from my family before they even woke up and being told that I was going to have to fight for my life.

"Miss. Puckett?" He asked, looking at a list in his hand.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and calm.

He looked up at me, he seemed to be just a bit older than I was, maybe eighteen. He had darker brown hair which if it had been longer, would have fallen into his eyes. I happened to glance at the name tag on his right hand side, B. Lockhearst. It was an interesting name and I almost asked him what the 'B' stood for, before remembering that I could potentially be sentence to my death at the next words that came out of his mouth. "I'm here to tell you that you're going to be working an extra shift tomorrow." He gave me a small smile, "I'm sorry, we have a new set of Peacekeepers coming in and they're going to need new uniforms."

"Oh," I said, giving a relieved sigh, "Great, sure no problem." I gave him a smile, "Thanks for telling me," I told him, actually glad that he hadn't seen anything. I was almost ecstatic.

"No problem," He said, giving me a tight smile before turning and walking away. His movements were stiff, as if he had been practicing walking like a soldier for a long time. I watched him go, leaning against the doorway, almost feeling exhausted from relief. I wasn't going to be pulled away and used in The Reaping today. I closed the door, running my fingers through my hair with a smile. I collapsed onto the chair in the kitchen, putting my head in my hands. If that Peacekeeper had seen me, everything would be over. I wouldn't know what to do. Would I be able to run and get out of the District? I didn't think that was possible. No, I knew it wasn't possible. I knew that anyone that tried to escape the District ended up dead. We were told that the outside world was dangerous, full of unsafe animals that would rip you to shreds if you even stepped a foot outside.

I could hear the sound of people moving around in my parent's room and I looked up, knowing that if I told them what happened they would get worried about me. I didn't want to give them anything else to worry about, them having to work and put food on the table was enough for them to worry about. When they shuffled out of their room they gave me a smile.

"Morning," I said, looking up at them with a faked, painted on smile, almost instantly erasing the look of fear that had been on my face only moments before, "How'd you guys sleep?"

My mother was wearing a simple white nightgown, something that was cheap to buy at the stores, usually the material or clothes we made, the nice fabrics and designs went to the Capital. We didn't get to wear the things we designed, or if they were for sale almost no one was able to afford them. Her red hair was bushy, a bit frazzled looking from sleeping on it. I remember looking at photos of my grandmother, Hermonie and seeing that we had similar hair. My mom had gotten her hair from her father, Ron. Unlike my mom, I had gotten my grandmother's brown frizzy hair. Not that I minded of course, I sort of liked it.

"I slept well," My mother said with a smile. "Are you ready for The Reaping today?" She asked, going over to the sink and grabbing a glass from the small cabinet, filling it up with water before taking a drink.

"I guess," I said, wondering who it was going to be today. I didn't know the witches or wizards that well, but everyone in town knew who they were. Many were my age, the older ones having already gone through the Hunger Games. I got up, crossing the kitchen to go into my room to get dressed. I didn't want to talk for too long with my parents, knowing that they would know something was wrong. I was never good at lying to them; they always knew when something was wrong. I changed out of the clothes I was wearing, putting on a pair of pants and then a tunic-like shirt. I tied back my hair in a ponytail to get it out of my way for the day. I glanced at myself in the small mirror that was hanging across the room. I wasn't a very vain person so I never really stared at myself for long, just enough to make sure that I was presentable looking before going out the door. I hear my parents shuffling around the kitchen before they went back to their bedroom, probably getting dressed like I was. The Reaping was going to happen soon, it was usually around noon when it did happen and that would be in an hour. I moved to the kitchen, grabbing my shoes that were tucked in the corner of the room, keeping them warm by the heater. I slipped them on before calling out to my parents that I was going into town. It wasn't that I was anxious to see who was going to get picked; I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to be me. I knew there was almost no chance of it being me, since no one had ever thought that I was a witch but because of what happened today, I wasn't so sure. I walked out of my house, looking around at the gray buildings that were almost stacked on top of each other. They were sad looking, to be honest. Some of the buildings looked like they were made out of scrap metal that someone could find, as if they had to be made in a hurry and a toddler was given the instructions to just piece the parts together. As I got closer to town the houses got to be in better condition, only because this was the part of the District that was on show for everyone else once a year. We wanted to look out best. I could hear the sound of people talking and milling around. I looked around, seeing the cameras that were already set up. I could only imagine who was watching us right now, probably some very happy Capital person on their sofas, eating some sort of delicacy while half of our District was starving. I shook my head, trying not to think of that. I had to hope that one day District 8 wouldn't be like it was now. There was no prize for winning the Hunger Games; if you did win you never came home, so it's as if you did die. Of course there were rumors about something happening every 25 years for the Hunger Games, but since we were only in the 20th year and I had little to no chance of being in it, I wasn't too worried. I watched as the Capital woman who was out District representative walked onto the stage, gently tapping the microphone. She had dark blue skin, her white teeth brightly standing out against it. Her hair was a light blue, coiled up in some sort of beehive with spirals of her own hair on the side. Her eyes somehow were a dark purple. I was pretty sure she wasn't born that way, which made me wonder what exactly the capital could do. She delicately cleared her throat before giving a small, "ahem," into the microphone. The chattering and talking soon came to a halt; I could see the witches and wizards that had been confined into a small area right in front of the stage. I wondered what it must be like for them. Were they all friends? What would it be like to have to say goodbye to them? Would the others be glad that it wasn't them or would they still feel awful?

"We're going to start The Reaping for District 8," The representative announced. I never got to learn her name; it was something like Ivory Aqua or something else completely absurd. "This year, things will be a bit different." She cleared her throat, giving everyone a smile. "Like always, there will be two tributes, a male and a female, but there will be a surprise." Her smile turned twisted before she produced a card from one of her pockets and she leaned forward into the microphone. "Our male tribute from District 8 is Blye Lockhearst, one of our very own Peacekeepers." It was dead silent in the square and I couldn't help but feel like I knew that name. I knew it, I knew I did, I just couldn't remember from where. I knew why everyone was being silent though, magical beings weren't allowed to have high position jobs. For this guy to be a Peacekeeper, he must have been a wizard in secret, like me. When I finally realized where I knew his name from, I saw him on stage. It was the guy who had knocked on my door this morning. I could see the utter grief on his face. I couldn't blame him either, because of the rules; you would only be picked from ages 12-18. He only had to survive this last year and then they couldn't pick him. He had somehow gotten caught and he knew there was no way he was going to be able to come home. The Capital wouldn't allow that. I knew that everyone would have their eyes trained on our District now, there was no way that they weren't looking. This had never been heard of before, no one had ever been a Peacekeeper and a wizard. Did Blye even know how to do any spells? "And our female tribute for District 8 is," She reached her hand into a weaved bowl made out of different fabrics before picking out a piece of paper. I sighed in relief but I felt bad, knowing that there was no way my name would be in there. The names on those papers were only there if you were a registered witch or wizard. I wondered who it was going to be, maybe one of the girls that sat next to me in class. I could see a few were looking around, one of the girls, Penelope was holding onto her younger sister's hand. I felt a bit guilty that I wouldn't be with them, I never got to know these people who I would never get to meet again. I watched as the representative for our District started to read the name before leaning into the microphone, saying the name of the tribute that would be most likely killed within the next few days. I looked back to the girls who were in the small arena, the witches that knew that one of their names would be called, which is why I was surprised when I heard the name, "Genevieve Puckett." I looked up at the representative in shock, wondering if I had heard it wrong. Had she really just called my name?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**The Last Farewell**

Everyone had to have seen the complete and utter shock on my face when my name was called. They must have. I mean, there was no way that I was able to keep the look of surprise off of my expression. I shook my head, thinking that maybe I was dreaming. I was going to wake up and be back in my house in my bed, knowing that I would have to wash those dishes from before and I would have to do my chores. Unfortunately, I wasn't sleeping; the hands on my back and arms were telling me that I wasn't. There were Peacekeepers who took me and started to lead me up to the stage that our representative and Blye were on. I glanced up at the screen that was showing our District, the cameras were trained on me as I was half dragged to the stage. My eyes were as wide as saucers and I could tell that anyone watching knew I wasn't a threat. I knew I'd probably be killed off instantly. With my luck I might not be even able to get off the starting platform before someone tried to kill me in the bloodbath. I glanced over at Blye who looked at me in surprise. Obviously he didn't realize I was a witch, although I gave him the same expression back. Neither one of us knew about the other. I glanced back at the crowd, wondering who among them were hiding their powers. There had to be others. Blye and I couldn't have been the only ones. I didn't see my parents in the crowd and I felt a bit relieved over that. If I had seen them, I think I would have started to cry. I wouldn't have been able to keep my emotions in check.

"Happy Hunger Games everyone!" Our representative said. Her shrill voice cutting through the chattering of the people in the square. I watched as one of the witches hugged a girl next to her, probably relieved that it wasn't going to be them this year. They got to live for another year, unlike me. "May the odds be ever in your favor!" I literally felt like wrapping my hands around this woman's neck and throttle her. I wondered if her skin would leave some sort of residue on my skin if I did that though, it was an interesting idea and I was more than willing to test that theory out. I watched as the cameras turned off one by one, leaving District 8 relatively unwatched, compared to only a few moments ago. I wondered what the Capital people were doing now. Were they calling up their friends and exclaiming over the news about the two magical people? I shook my head in disgust before our representative turned to look at us. "As you probably know," She started, looking at us with a disgustingly sweet smile. "I'm Aquamarine Ivory, your representative for District 8." She motioned towards the steps, leading down onto the District's square. "Now, I'm going to be with you two until the very start of the Hunger Games, I'll be helping out with different things and teaching you…" She glanced at my outfit and I could almost see her shudder, "how things work in the Capital," She finished. She guided us down the square as people started to disperse. "We're going to be getting you ready for leaving, since you're going tonight. You get one hour with loved ones and to spend time with them and then we're off to the Capital." At the mention of the Capital her tone became happier, as if she never wanted to be here at all, which I didn't blame her, we didn't want her here either. I wondered if my parents would get the news that I had been picked, someone would tell them, right? The other thought that ran through my mind was how did they know I was a witch? They couldn't have known, there was no possible way unless someone saw me using magic. I had been very careful to not use it around other people though. I glanced over at Blye who kept a steady composure compared to me. I wondered if his family would come visit him. I was an only child so I knew it would basically only be my parents that came to visit. Blye on the other hand may be getting tons of relatives and friends that would come to see him.

We were guided to the mayor's house; apparently that's where the tributes got to meet with their loved ones before they had to leave. I had never really known the mayor that well, I just saw him walking around town once in a while. He had a son who was about my age, although he was safe from the Games since he wasn't a wizard. We were taken to two different rooms in the back of the house, Blye was in one and I was in the other. They were plush and opulent, the floor a rich red velvet and the walls were a dark shade of velvet as well. I realized that they did this so you couldn't hear the conversations on the other side of the wall, giving the tributes some sort of privacy. I sat on a couch, facing the door and waiting for my parents to come see me. It would probably be the last time that I would be able to see them ever again. I picked at the couch, a frayed string that had come undone caught my attention and I kept playing with it, pulling and tugging at it anxiously as I waited. I could hear the sound of mumbled talking on the other side of the room, guessing that Blye was talking to his family. I looked around the room, wondering how many other tributes were in this room before me. I wondered what they were like and what advice they would have given me if I could have met them. I wondered how long we had been in the room for there wasn't a clock or anything to tell me how much time had passed but from the numbness of my limbs from sitting on the couch, I could guess that our time was almost up; our representative would come when our hour was up and take us on the train. I wondered if anyone had told my parents. Maybe they thought I was just in town still talking to someone, maybe no one told them that I was the new tribute. What would happen if no one told them? Would their first news of me being the tribute begin with seeing me on the tv fighting for my life? I finally tugged too hard on the string of the couch and it popped out. I looked down at it guilty, hoping that there weren't cameras in here to see what I had just done. The small thread was different than I expected. It was soft to the touch and had little red threads springing off from the main one. The end of the thread, the part that had been in the couch ended with some sort of pointy part. It was an odd piece of thread. While I was looking at it, I didn't hear the sound of footsteps until I heard the door to my room opening. I stuffed the thread in my pocket, forgetting about it for a moment. I sighed in relief, figuring that someone had finally told my parents that I was here. I stood up, smiling and hoping that I didn't look hopeless. I didn't want that to be the final look that my parents saw on my face. My smile was soon erased when I saw that it was Aquamarine in front of me, not my parents.

"It's time to go," She said, her voice reminding me of nails on a chalkboard. "We're off to the Capital!"

"I didn't even get to see my parents though," I argued, "No one came to see me."

"Maybe they didn't come to see you because of what you are," She said with a wink. "No one wants a witch as a daughter!" She laughed softly before walking out of the room. I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering if I ran after her, I could actually choke her. Of course, there were Peacekeepers outside of my room so that wouldn't happen. I slowly trudged out of my room, watching as people came out of Byle's room. He was the last one to come out and I marveled at the fact that he wasn't looking upset at all. He looked like he had just had a normal day with his friends, not a goodbye party.

"Come on now!" Aquamarine said as she started to walk down the hallway, out of the Mayor's house. I glanced at Blye before I followed after her, hearing footsteps behind me; I saw that the Peacekeepers were following.

We walked out of the Mayor's house and were quickly piled into some sort of Capital looking car. It matched Aquamarine's skin perfectly and she seemed to be impressed by that. "You know, I always like District 8 the most," She said as she sat in the back of the car with us. There were seats on all four sides of the car and it was sort of like a limo. Aquamarine was sitting across from Blye and me, sipping on some sort of blue sparkling drink. I wondered if that was where she got her skin color from until I realized that they were drinks offered for everyone. "You people have the best threading skills I've seen in a while," She told us, "Your designs and fabrics are the best of the best!"

Blye and I looked at each other, not sure if that was a compliment aimed at us or not. I wasn't sure if I should say thank you or not. Blye just settled with a shrug and looked out the window.

"So you two," Aquamarine said, leaning forward to look at us, "How did you escape the Gamemakers for so long? How did we not know that you two were magical?" When we didn't respond to her she sighed in frustration. "You know that you're going to have an interview, right? There are going to be questions thrown at you like this one, you're going to have to be charming and answer them. For one of you to survive you're going to want sponsors."

That's when Blye snapped, "Why do we need sponsors?" He questioned, "What's the point? We all know that none of us are going to live at the end, even if we do win. We just disappear and no one sees us ever again. My guess is that we just get killed in a more humane way behind the scenes." His hands were making big gestures as he talked and I thought I saw a spark running through the tips of his fingers.

"You don't know that, do you?" Aquamarine pointed out. "All I know is that I'm supposed to help you win. To win you need sponsors. To get sponsors, you need to be charming and win people over on the interviews." She took a sip of her drink with an angry look on her face. I myself was surprised at Blye's shouting; he never struck me as the type that would get angry so quickly, I actually didn't think I would hear him talk for a while. I was even more surprised at the spark that I thought I saw, maybe Blye wasn't helpless after all; maybe he really could use some magic without a wand. It would give us an advantage if we both could use our magic in the Games.

Blye just sighed, looking already defeated as he leaned back into the seat, District 8's scenery passing us by as we headed towards the trains.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Rail Road Crossing**

It didn't take long before we were at the train station. I brushed back some loose strands of my hair with a sigh, looking up at the massive train that would be leading us to our doom. Blye had been silent the rest of the way to the train. I wasn't sure if he was sulking or not, although I don't think I could blame him if he was; neither one of us asked for this.

Aquamarine got out of the car first, leading us towards the train. It was pretty long for only three people to be on it, which surprised me. Why would we need so much space? It wasn't like Blye and I were going to try and rip the other's throats out. I boarded the train with Blye, going down the small aisle. We were on the middle compartment, which had plush looking seats and had a great view to look out from the train. There was a huge tv on the other side of the wall, which was currently showing the symbol of the Capital. I guessed that we would be watching the different tributes on there from when they got picked. Our representative gave us a quick tour, showing us that past this compartment was where we would be having our meals, in a connecting compartment to our left. On the compartment to our right would be where we would be sleeping, three rooms were in there, one for each of us. Once she showed us to our rooms, I went into what would be mine. It was obviously a stereotypical girl's room and someone from the Capital must have designed it because there were splashes of color everywhere. It made me homesick for my own room and the tiny kitchen, where the only real splash of color was the faded pink flowers of the wallpaper. There was a vanity and a mirror on one side with a lush looking bed. It looked like if I just jumped into it I would sink into the mattress easily. There was a door by the vanity, walking to it and opening it I saw that it was my own private bathroom. There was a shower, a toilet and a sink with a mirror hanging over it. Of course these were the things normally found in a bathroom but these were unlike the ones that I was accustomed to. The shower had at least five different faucets in the front and three arched handles. I didn't know what they were supposed to do and I didn't know if I would be able to figure out how to even turn the shower on. I resisted the urge to just take a shower then, since I figured that our representative probably had plans for us. Even if we were going to be on the train for a few days, we were going to be told exactly what we needed to do and say and how to act in the Capital. I walked back out of my new room, standing awkwardly in the hallway. I didn't know if Blye was in his room and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to even go into his room, the odds are it probably wasn't the best idea to go and knock, not to mention I barely knew Blye. Except for the small interaction we had that morning, we hadn't talked since. I made my way back to the middle compartment where Aquamarine was sitting in one of the chairs, looking out the window as we slowly started to trudge out of the train station. I grabbed onto something, feeling the compartment lurch forward. It threw my balance off, which I hadn't expected. Once the train was going at a steady pace I let go of what I was holding, glancing over to my horror to see that I had grabbed Blye's arm. "Sorry," I said softly, my cheeks becoming stained with a gentle blush.

Blye shook his head and then shrugged his shoulders, which I took for an 'its ok,' from him.

Aquamarine watched us for a moment, a smile on her lips as if she was a cat and she had just found a nice little meal between the two of us, "Now, we can either get dinner or we can watch the other tributes get picked. Which do you two prefer?"

I looked over at Blye, seeing that he was once again staring at the ground, it didn't look like he cared too much, or he was just acting like he normally would, which I wouldn't know what that was like. I wished that I knew him before all of this, so that I could have at least gotten to know him. Blye seemed interesting, someone that I was sure that I would have gotten along with, if I was given the chance. Now I knew I wouldn't be able to have that chance, at least not now when we were getting ready to try to kill other people. "I think we should have dinner first," I said, I doubted that I would be able to eat after I saw everyone getting picked.

Aquamarine just nodded her head and led us into the other compartment to our left. There was a long table that took up the span of the compartments width, only three places were set. I sat down at the place that had my name setting on it, which I found slightly weird, how long had the people known me that they already had a place setting for me? Another thing that bothered me was the fact that these rooms and dining places were so lavish and opulent when our district barely had enough to make sure that the houses wouldn't fall around our heads. Why, if the Capital had enough money to make things like this, didn't it share it with the other districts? Why didn't it want to help its people out instead of just the people who lived in the Capital? After a few minutes people came out of the last compartment on the left, which I guessed was the kitchen, and started to set food down in front of us, there was so much I didn't expect that I could eat all of it. There was heaps of turkey and mashed potatoes, some other bird that I didn't think I could recognize and stuffing. There were also biscuits and little finger sandwiches piled up in an intricate display. There were different pitchers of liquid also spread across the surface of the table, lemonade, water, some sort of berry flavored drink and coffee. I looked over at Blye who was staring at the food with mixed emotions. I knew what he was thinking, back home there was barely enough food to go around and yet, right now there was enough food to feed a few families. Most likely the food in front of them was going to go to waste, which made me feel guilty. I wish I could have taken some and sent it back home, knowing it would have gotten eaten then. My thoughts went back to my family, wondering if my parent still thought I was going to come home in a few minutes, that at any moment I was going to come through the front door and complain about the walk from the center of the town to our house. Of course I would never have to complain about that again, I wouldn't be coming back home alive. I noticed that Aquamarine had no problem eating, her plate was already packed with food and he was pouring herself some coffee. I could feel my stomach growling but I wasn't eager to show Aquamarine how little we ate at the Capital. I took one of the finger sandwiches, placing it onto my plate and grabbing one of the pitchers, pouring it into my glass. It was the berry flavored one; I took a sip, letting the taste run across my tongue. It was incredibly sweet but it was really good.

"So we're going to have to think of something that's really going to shock people during the interviews," Aqua said after a moment, looking at both of us.

"What, the fact that no one thought we had magic wasn't surprising enough?" I heard Blye shoot back.

"Well it was surprising," She said, "but that's soon going to wear off, I'm sure the other tributes have things up their sleeves, which is what we need for both of you now."

"So what then?" I asked, "What would be surprising that people would like us?" If it gave me something to use over the other tributes I was all for it.

Aqua shrugged, "I still have to think of something," She told me, "But I'm sure some sort of story about how your parents had been protecting you for as long as possible would work." She thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling, "The real question is if you two have any strengths." She watched both of us, waiting for either Blye or myself to say something. I shrugged, knowing that if it did come down to just Blye and I, I wanted to keep the fact that I knew magic to myself. I didn't feel like sharing what I knew.

Blye shrugged, "I'm kinda strong," He said modestly, picking at something on his plate. "I mean, I'm fit too, from being a Peacekeeper."

Aqua nodded, "Definitely use that to your advantage," She told him, "As for you Genevieve, if you don't have any strengths you're going to have to learn something to keep yourself alive."

I nodded my head, knowing that I would have to; my magic would only be used for something that I needed in case of an emergency. We finished up the rest of the lunch, or maybe it was brunch, up in silence, not having any need to say anything else. I knew what I was thinking of, some sort of plan on how to survive.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**One by One**

The lunch went by pretty quickly, luckily it was mostly in silence, Aqua didn't mention anything about how we had survived in secret for this long or ask us about what we were going to talk about during our interviews. I didn't see the point in having an interview process, to me there was no point since we were all going to die in the end. I remember my mom telling me about how people used to watch shows about people trying to show off certain skills they had, like how to survive on an island with a group of other people, but no one died, in fact they got money. It didn't make sense to me, although I knew that it would be a lot better if I got money for winning the Games instead of dying.

We moved from the dining compartment to the middle compartment where the tv was. I took one last look at the dining compartment before we left, seeing people start to clean up the leftover food that we had left behind. I felt bad that we didn't finish all of the food, I didn't know what happened to it once we left, I could only hope that someone else got to eat the food that we didn't eat, otherwise it was a complete waste. I turned my attention back to Aqua who was bending down in front of the tv, putting something into it, "This is what everyone will see tomorrow," She said, looking over at us, "I got it when you two were saying goodbye to your families." She gestured for us to sit down in the chairs before she sat down in her own. I glanced over at Blye, not exactly sure what I was supposed to expect. I sat down in one of the chairs, Blye sitting next to me. The video started and I watched in anticipation, hoping that the events that I was about to see weren't too hard to watch. The tv turned black for a moment, showing two words come up 'District 1'. The camera zoomed onto a stage where a man was announcing the first name. I noticed that in District 1, there weren't as many witches or wizards as in our District, it looked as if there were four or five. My thoughts once again went back to the idea of what would happen when they ran out of tributes; would all of this just end? A name was called and a girl came up onto the stage, a look of dread on her face. There was another who had been clinging onto her for a moment before she was escorted up to the stage. I wondered what their relationship was, if they were sisters or long term friends. I felt a soft pang in my chest, wishing that I actually had a sibling. I knew my parents wouldn't have had another kid though; the risk of having two children that had magic was too high. It was hard enough to hide my magic, and look where it got me. A male appeared next, he looked pretty strong, his biceps bulging as he swung his arms with each step he took. I pursed my lips, knowing that he had probably prepared his whole life for this, unlike I did. He looked like he could easily break anything he was given. The girl was a bit slighter than the guy, she looked to be around twelve or so. I frowned, I never liked when they used younger kids, she looked terrified and I didn't blame her, she was barely a teenager and the youngest were usually the first to die. The image froze, the camera showing a close up of their faces.

"What do you think?" Aqua asked, turning to us. "What do you know about these two by looking at them?" She leaned forward, looking at us eagerly, waiting for us to answer.

"The guy is strong," Blye said slowly, his eyes scanning the tv. "That's probably all he has for himself though, he doesn't look like he'd be too fast. It would be easy to kill him in the bloodbath."

I looked over at Blye in shock, he had been so against the Games before and now he was talking about how to kill someone. How had that changed so fast?

Aqua nodded in encouragement, "good," She said, "Do you think that you would be able to kill him?"

Blye hesitated, some emotion flashing in his eyes before he nodded. "Give me a weapon and I can," He said, his voice soft this time.

Aqua nodded as if that was exactly what she wanted to hear, "good," she told him, "Now Genevieve." She turned to me, "What would you do about the girl if she came up to you in the woods?" She watched me, waiting for an answer.

"If she came up to me in the woods?" I asked, not understanding what made the girl different than the guy, why wouldn't the guy make it past the bloodbath but the girl would?

"She's fast," Blye told me, "Did you see how she shifted her weight when she walked? She also has less of a build, making her lighter and it would be easier for her to run. She'd be out of the open area in less than a minute if she didn't try to grab anything."

I shook my head, "I don't want to do this," I told them, "I can't kill anyone, I don't want to." I ran my fingers through my hair with a frustrated sigh, I didn't know that if I was put into the position that I had to kill someone or be killed, that I could kill someone.

Blye glanced over at me and shook his head, "You're going to have to Genevieve," He told me, "If you want to stay alive."

I bit my lip, knowing that I was just about to let out my secret that I had magic, it was on the tip of my tongue. I shook my head, looking away from him, "Not like that," I told him, "I'm not killing anyone like that." I tried to think of ways that I thought was ok to kill someone, maybe I could trick someone else into doing the deed, but make it easier for someone. I could set traps, setting them up so that people were trapped in staying in the same place. Even though I wasn't killing them myself, it was still a hard idea to think of.

Aqua shook her head sadly, playing the tv once again. The picture of the tributes faded, the words 'District 2' coming up. This time two kids were picked, they looked even younger than the girl from District 1, which made me wonder if they had any kids that were older than them. It looked like the Districts at the top were starting run out of witches and wizards. What were they going to do if they did run out? It was a horrible thought but I was almost glad that they were running out of people to use in the Games. It meant that it would be over soon. Maybe if there were witches or wizards, in the future, they could hide their powers and not have to be hunted down. I put my feet up onto the cushion of the seat, curling up as I watched the tributes go by. Aqua would pause the tv once in a while to ask us questions. Blye mostly answered them, seeing that I wouldn't do it myself. I froze when I saw the words 'District 8' come up onto the screen. I knew that I was going to see our reactions. It showed our District, at first showing the witches and wizards who were in the middle of the plaza and then the camera showed Aqua. She talked for a moment before saying Blye's name. The camera switched and panned across the crowd, showing the confused faces of everyone there. Then it showed Blye walking through the crowd, his Peacekeeper uniform on his body. There were Peacekeepers behind him who looked sorrowful. I wondered if they were his friends, they probably were and they knew they wouldn't be seeing their friend again. Then, Aqua said my name. The camera moved to the crowd once more before it showed my face. I almost groaned softly, seeing the utter shock showing clearly across my face. It was clear that I didn't expect to be picked. The Peacekeepers came up behind me, guiding me up to the stage once more. My eyes were wide as I looked over at Blye on the tv. Aqua paused it and glanced over at us. "Now," she said, looking over at us. "When you look at each other what do you see?"

I glanced over at Blye before I turned my attention to Aqua, "What do you mean?" She asked.

"I want you two to analyze yourselves and the other," She told us.

Blye coughed softly, looking over at me before he glanced at the tv. "I look surprised," He said, running his fingers through his hair carefully.

"We both look surprised," I countered, "Like there was no way that we could have gotten caught, which is true. At least, I didn't think I would have gotten caught."

Aqua nodded, "Looking at each other, what are your traits?" She asked, watching us.

"Genevieve looks surprised and to be honest, kind of weak." He glanced over at me with an apologizing smile, "Sorry, but it's true." He paused before he added, "you can use that to your advantage though, people will underestimate you in the bloodbath and you can run."

I wondered if Blye was trying to mess with me or if he actually was trying to help me. Did people even have allies in the Games? I nodded my head though, "What then?" I asked.

Blye shrugged, "I don't know," He said, the soft look on his face disappearing. "That's your problem, not mine."

I nodded my head, figuring that I would have gotten that response. "You look surprised but to be honest I wouldn't want to mess with you." I looked over at him with a small smile, knowing that he would like to hear that fact.

Blye nodded absently, looking as if he was trying to think. I turned my attention back to the tv as the next District came up.

We did this through all of the Districts, watching as each pair of tributes came through. As we got to the Districts like 11 and 12, the tributes were older. They looked as if they had too many or at least more witches or wizards than District 1 or 2. Once we were done watching them, Aqua got up from her chair. "I'm off to bed," She told us, "you two can do what you want, I'll be waking you up early tomorrow morning for breakfast, alright? We have to get some food into you two." She left us, going into the other compartment. I glanced over at Blye, wondering if he was going to go to bed as well.

Blye looked back at me, sighing softly. "So, do you want to start talking or should i?"

"What do you mean?" I asked him curiously, not understanding.

"About how you kept it all a secret," He told me. "How'd you do it?"

I shook my head, "My parents mad sure I didn't use my magic, I only practiced in secret."

"So, you can use your magic?" He asked, his eyes lighting up for a moment.

"No," I lied, "I tried, but I couldn't get anything to work."

He sighed, cupping his chin with his head, leaning forward so his elbow rested on his knee. "That would have been useful, I was hoping you could teach me." He closed his eyes for a moment before he stood up, walking to the door to the last compartment where the beds were. He paused, turning to look at me, "How much do you bet that someone else knows how to us magic without a wand?"

"Not very much," I told him, "I mean, we were made to use wands, right?"

Blye nodded, seeming to like that answer before he disappeared through the door, going to his bedroom.

I sighed, sitting there for a few minutes before I got up, going to my own room. I found pajamas in one of the drawers and I changed into them. I folded down the blankets of my bed before I crawled into it. I closed my eyes, feeling the train moving as I laid there, drawing me closer to my doom. It was then that I realized that I never got to hear how Blye kept his magic hidden for so long.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Troublesome Tributes**

The sunlight from the window was the first thing to wake me up. I turned over, thinking that I was at home. But no, I wasn't home. I closed my eyes with a groan, burying myself under the covers. I was on a train hurtling towards my death. I could feel the train shaking now, side to side as it went down its tracks. There was a soft knock on my door and I groaned in reply, not wanting to get up. The covers were actually really comfortable, the sheets soft and silky against my skin. I had never slept on something like this before. I heard the door open and something settled on the edge of my bed. I didn't know what or who it was and I had a feeling that I didn't want to know either. I kept my eyes closed, hoping that if I kept them closed long enough I would wake up to the smell of eggs cooking in the small kitchen we had back home. My thoughts went back to my parents and I wondered how they were doing. Did they know that I was a tribute yet? Surely someone had to have told them. I felt the weight on the bed shift, it was definitely a someone, not a something. I looked up then to see who it was, surprised when I saw Blye. He looked like he hadn't slept well last night. There were dark shadows under his eyes and his hair was disheveled, bits and pieces were sticking up in all different directions. He was wearing his pajamas still, a dark blue set that looked pretty good on him. "Are you allowed to be in here?" I asked, having heard of contestants trying to kill each other before they even got to the arena. Was that what he was going to do? Was he going to try to kill me? I wasn't sure if it would be good, if he killed me now. At least I wouldn't have to see the horrible scenes of death and destruction as I played in The Games. That was an upside, right? Of course the downside would be that I was dead.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Was his simple answer. He gave me a small smile as if trying to be reassuring. "It's not like we're doing anything in here." Then he did something the shocked me, he wagged his eyebrows as if trying to mention something scandalous. I laughed and playfully shoved his shoulders. "Shut up," I told him, finding that I was smiling for the first time since I was told I was a tribute. My fears of Blye started to fade. Of course he wouldn't kill me. There were strict rules about that.

"She's stronger than she looks folks!" He said as he pretended to lose his balance and fall off the bed. "A real piece of competition to all the other strong tributes!"

My smile faded as soon as it came. I shook my head, wishing he hadn't made that joke. Now all I could think about was the Games. Blue blanched when he saw the look on my face. "Sorry Genevieve, I should have thought about what I was saying."

I looked at him in surprise, this was not the guy that had been talking about death and killing tributes like last night and it certainly wasn't the quiet silent boy that barely spoke a word. Which was the real Blye? Was he trying to trick me somehow? I just shook my head. "It's fine," I told him, getting out of bed. I glanced down at him on the floor and I bit my bottom lip gently, how did I politely tell him to leave?

Blye caught me staring and realized what I was trying to indirectly say. "Got it," he said, standing up with an easy smile. "I'm going to go." He turned around and walked to the door before he opened it and went into the hallway. I followed after him, closing the door before I faced my room. I sighed, deciding I should take a shower, if I was able to with all those different devices on it.

_(sorry this chapter is so short guys, there will be another longer chapter coming out this week as well, I promise.)_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Spinning Fashions**

I took a shower, figuring out very quickly which handles did what. The pumps held different types of soap, some that I couldn't identify the smell of. Once I was done I went back to my room, picking up clothes that had been placed in a small drawer for me already. It wasn't anything spectacular; I figured that since we were going to die, even though everything else about the train was fabulous, the Capital didn't feel like clothing us in elaborate clothes when we were in private. For some strange reason, I reached into my old pants, grabbing the thread that had been in my pants pocket from before, and transferred it into the pants that I now was wearing. I didn't know what possessed me to do that, maybe the fact that I liked its color? Maybe that it, besides Blye, was my last tie to home.

Once I was dressed I walked out of my room and went into the compartment that was basically our living room now. I saw Aqua already up. She arched her blue eyebrow at me; a smile coming to those frosted looking lips of hers. "You're up early," She chimed, standing up, "There's breakfast in the other compartment, start eating because we have a lot to talk about." She quickly ushered me towards the other compartment. I nodded and walked in, seeing Blye sitting at the table. I gave him a small smile before sitting down in the chair that I had sat in last night. I was once again amazed at the feast that was provided for us. How could someone cook this much for us every day and not die from exhaustion? There were platters of toast, scrambled eggs in a bowl; sausage and bacon were also laid out. There were stacks of pancakes and waffles with different syrups tailored for our tastes. "Who makes all of this?" I asked, looking over at Aqua who was now sitting down with us at the table.

"The cook," She told me with a tired smile, "He's very good, isn't he?"

I nodded my head, wondering if he had his own magic, being able to make all this food just wasn't humanly possible in the amount of time that he had. Especially when it was only one person to make all this food. I glanced over at Blye once more, seeing him already tucking into the food on his plate. He had gotten dressed like I had, a shirt and trousers was what they had given him. "When do we get to the Capital?" I asked, turning my attention back to Aqua. It wasn't that I was eager to get there, actually, I don't see why anyone would be eager to go to the Capital unless they lived there. I was dreading going to the Capital, the faster I got there, the faster I would die. If we were going there soon, I didn't want to be caught off guard.

"Tomorrow," She told me, "We have clothes for you for when you go to the Capital, so you shouldn't be picking _those_ clothes again. Alright?"

Blye and I both nodded, not wanting to see Aqua get mad. I didn't want to see the wrath of this woman when she didn't get things the way she wanted. I could just see the color of her skin change to a bright red, breathing fire at us. Of course this probably wasn't possible but I didn't put it past the Capital to be able to do it. "Now," Aqua said, "I have very little time to make you the best I can and get you sponsors, you must be charming," She told us. "You must follow my directions perfectly and then you may win." She glanced over at Blye, "You are probably the most interesting tribute, besides Genevieve, not only did you fool the Capital, you were a Peacekeeper. Play on that, pretend you knew what you were doing, the Capital people love hearing about that sort of stuff, and it's entertaining. Of course you need to act as if you don't know everything, otherwise you might be the first to die, The Gamemakers will want to kill you off if they think you know too much."

Blye's face became a stark white. I couldn't blame him. He had just been told to walk a thin line between entertaining the Capital people and pissing off the Gamemakers. We all knew it wasn't that hard to make them mad, after all they wanted all of us dead anyway.

"And me?" I asked, wondering what exactly I could use to my advantage.

"The fact that you're a girl will play into your favors, act…innocent, sweet. The audience will eat you up," Aqua told me, her eyes watching me as if I was a mouse that she, the cat had just found. "The fact that you hide from the government for so long can also play into your interests; act as if you're cunning and smart, even if you aren't. You're going to want to appear as if you're ahead of the game. One step ahead of everyone else. It'll intimidate the other tributes as well."

I nodded my head, trying to keep these things in mind as I sat there. I had barely touched any of the food on the table, my plate was actually empty. I could hear my stomach rumbling but I didn't feel like eating. I was too busy thinking about the Games. I could act like I was smart and innocent. Those were easy feats. The only other thing I had to focus on was living. How in the world was I supposed to do that?

After the next few hours we discussed with Aqua about different things to say and not to say, how to act in public and even in private, it was exhausting. I didn't even want to get out of my chair to go back to my room. I leaned back into my seat with a sigh, we would be in the Capital in less than a day now, I might be dead in a week. That's how short my life span was now. I shook my head, trying not to think about that. I couldn't think about that when we were so close to the Games. As I sat in my chair, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was in my room once more. I frowned, looking around as I laid there on the bed. Who had brought me in here? Obviously I hadn't walked to my bedroom. I clenched my hands slightly and heard a crinkle. I frowned, looking down at my hands. There was a note there, reading, _'you were sleeping and someone told me that they were trying to set up for dinner, so I moved you to your room.'_ It was signed with a small flourish that I could make out as Blye's name. I smiled slightly, wondering why he was trying to be so nice. I had to remember that he wouldn't be this nice when we were in the arena. If he crossed paths with me, I knew that I would have to run because he was going to kill me. I shook my head, running my fingers through my hair. What else could possibly be heaped onto my plate to make me even more stressed? Not only did I have to worry about the interview and being in the Capital _and_ the Games, I had to worry about guys like Byle, who acted sweet but would ultimately kill me in the end. I had to be careful of his mind games if I wanted to survive.

There was a knock on my door and I looked up, wondering who could possibly be at my door, probably Aqua telling me that I should eat something. That's another thing she had been trying to get us to do, bulk up and eat. I understood the reasoning behind it, she didn't want us to look thin and starved by the time we made it to the Capital, and I think she also was trying to tell us that there wouldn't be much food when we go into the arena. I knew that already, remembering that people had to hunt for their food. I tucked that bit of knowledge away for later as I got up, making my way towards the door when I heard another knock, I figured that I would have to learn to hunt. What would I hunt? What would the arena be like this year? I opened the door, seeing someone who I had never seen before stand before me. He quickly walked past me into my room, looking around the room before he nodded his head, as if it was suitable. "Sit," He commanded, pointing at a chair.

"Sit?" I asked, looking up at him, wondering who he was.

"Is that a foreign concept to you?" He sneered. "Sit." He pointed once more at the chair until all I could do was sit down in the chair. "Good," He said, examining me. He frowned at my hair, circling around me twice. "I'm going to have a hell of a time with that thing," He said, pointing at it. He lifted a strand of it as if it was going to jump out and bite me.

"Who are you?" I asked, finally finding my voice after he insulted my hair. I knew it was bushy and not fun to try to tame but he didn't have to act like it was something that was horrible.

"I'm your stylist of course," He said, standing with one leg out, slightly bent. One of his arms came to drape around his slender frame, the other resting on that arm, his hand on his chin as he watched me. "I'm Briar."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Twilight Travels**

"My stylist?" I asked, looking at the male as he posed in front of me.

"Are you deaf and dumb?" He asked, arching his perfectly shaped eyebrow at me. "Not a good trait for a tribute."

"Shut up," I said, crossing my arms. I was not happy with this guy, Briar. Who was he to make fun of me? I was the one that was going to die, not him, didn't that mean I earned some sort of respect? Apparently not.

Briar shook his head, making a soft tutting noise with his tongue as he watched me. "We're going to have a lot of work to do but I can try my best to get you presentable for when you first arrive." He grabbed my arm, quickly lifting me up out of my hair and towards the bathroom before he unceremoniously dumped me into another chair that was in there. He pushed me towards one of the mirrors so I could look at myself as he took out things from a bag that I hadn't seen him bring in. He started to plug things into outlets, setting them down on the counter where the sink was. The small room started to become heated as the different hair instruments began to grow warm. He gave me a smirk, looking at me through the mirror. He brushed the ends of my hair forward and frowned, "How do you usually wear your hair?" He asked me, picking up a brush. He ran it through my hair roughly, catching every knot in my hair and yanking on it.

"Down," I answered with a wince as his brush snagged another piece of my hair.

"Down?" He asked with a scoff. "That's barely an answer." He shook his head, still running the brush through my hair.

"Well I'm sorry that I didn't grow up in the Capital where I would know all these things about fashion. Not all of us are very happy with the hand that fate dealt them," I snapped suddenly. I didn't know what it was about him that made me so angry, it could have been a variety of things but it was definitely the fact that he was poking fun at me.

"Ah, there we go," He said with a chuckle, the sarcastic tone in his voice disappearing. "That's what I was waiting for, it took a while but you do have some fight in you." He set the brush down on the counter, picking up one of the instruments that was plugged into an outlet. He took a section of my hair, wrapping it in the instrument. "Now, tell me about yourself." He said, looking at me through the mirror.

"What do I say?" I asked, confused by his change in personality.

"Pretend I'm interviewing you," He said, "You're doing that, right?" He let go of my hair and then took another section of it. I reached my hand out to look at the perfectly coiled piece that he had just let go of before I felt him slap my hand away. "Don't touch," He said, waving his finger in front of my face. "Never touch." He shook his head, paying attention to my hair as he coiled the next section around the instrument. "Now, talk."

"Uh," I said, looking up at him in the mirror, "I'm Genevieve." I shrugged my shoulders and he hissed in displeasure, smacking his hand on my shoulders. "Don't shrug," He almost spat. "Stay still, sit up properly, no one wants to sponsor someone who slumps their shoulders."

I nodded my head, sitting up more, I hadn't realized that I hadn't been sitting up correctly but then again, I never really paid attention to my posture. "Should I go on?" I asked, trying to look up at him. He just put the palm of his hand on my forehead, forcing me to look at the mirror.

"Yes." Was all he said, letting go of another piece of hair.

"Ok," I said slowly, trying to gather my thoughts. "I have a mother and father back home, I don't have any siblings."

"What did you do at home?" He asked; his voice monotonous as if he had asked these questions before. Had he gone through this with the other tributes? Was this supposed to try to relax me?

"I did chores?" I asked, wondering if that was the right answer.

Briar chuckled as if I said something funny, "Ok, what did you do for _fun_?" He asked, moving slightly to reach more of my hair. As I watched my hair slowly started to turn into ringlets, curling and framing my face perfectly.

"I didn't really have much that I would do," I said, watching as he kept curling my hair. "I mostly spent time going to school. I didn't think that I would have to be worried about being found out as a witch so I thought that I could make a difference somehow, you know, fix problems I our District or something."

"Oh, that's right," He said in a mocking tone, "You're the two tributes that were basically a secret."

"What?" I asked, wondering what he meant.

"You two were hiding from the Capital," He explained, "You and Blye are top news; you're generating a lot of curiosity." He gave me a friendly smile in the mirror, which was something that I didn't expect. "Now that combined with my styling skills, you're going to be the apple of all the Capital's eyes."

I frowned, not sure what he meant. I let the thought go through my mind though, wondering what he meant by the apple of the Capital's eye. Did that mean that I was going to do well? Probably not, just because I was liked by the Capital didn't mean that I was going to win; we were all supposed to die anyway, like Blye said, what was the purpose of playing then? I glanced around the room, wishing that there was a window in here so I could see outside. What time was it? I wasn't sure but I knew it couldn't be morning yet, otherwise Aquamarine would be trying to get us to wake up.

Briar pulled my chair back slightly, standing in front of me. He looked at my face, not actually at me. He cupped my face in his hands and I resisted the urge to pull back. He turned around; grabbing something from a small bag before he turned around again. I saw that it was tweezers and I could already feel myself flinching just as he plucked my eyebrows. "Sorry," He murmured, continuing to do what he was doing. "Just got to shape these." He took a step back, looking me for a moment before he moved to my other eyebrow.

Once he was done I felt like my eyes wouldn't stop watering. I wiped my eyes and gave him a small smile. "Are we done yet?" I asked, wondering if that was all he was going to do for the day.

He shook his head, "We have so much more to do," He told me. He grabbed my hand, examining the nails. "Now, we're definitely going to have to give you fake nails." I looked down at my nails, they had been bitten down to the nubs, a bad habit that I had when I got nervous. I definitely had reason to get nervous since the Games. I could remember my mom telling me that I would have to stop that habit but I hadn't listened. I wonder how she was doing, why hadn't they come to see me when I had an hour to see my family and friends? The thought that they didn't get the message that I was picked ran through my head again but that made me wonder if they even wanted to see me? Neither one of my parents had magic so they wouldn't be subjected to death. I didn't know what they with adults that had magic and just hid it. That hadn't happened before from what I could remember. I shifted my attention back to Briar, watching as he started to clip my nails to get them in the right shape. I heard a knock on my door and I jumped right as Briar tried to clip one of my nails, making my finger bleed because he cut too far. I cursed softly, holding my finger in my other hand, looking up at him with a frown. "Sorry," He said, getting up from where he had crouched. He walked into my room, going to the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Perfect Princess**

I tried to see the door from where I was sitting, but I couldn't see who was at the door because of the way the door was positioned. I moved out of the bathroom, seeing Briar talking to the person. When the person came into view, I saw it was Aquamarine. Her eyes took me in, seeing that Briar had stared to do his work. She smiled, nodding her head in approval. "Just wanted to see how it was going, girls usually need a lot more work than the boys do, so you'll probably be up all night with Briar."

I glared at her, not being able to help it. All night? Didn't I get to sleep at all? Probably not, they'd want to keep my hair perfect and not have it messed up if I went to bed. I wondered what Blye was doing, was he going to be able to sleep? He probably hadn't even started to get ready yet. I sighed, looking back up at Briar who just motioned for me to go sit back on the chair I had been on before. I didn't really want to; I just wanted to lie down or something. I nodded though, moving back to the bathroom to sit down. I stared at myself in the mirror, seeing that I looked different. It wasn't a major change, I just looked more cared for, like a little doll that had its hair brushed and combed after being played with for a few hours. The little imperfections that I had lived with since I was a kid were starting to disappear. I watched as Briar came back into the room, picking up a file to continue his work on my nails. He avoided the one that he had cut accidentally, making me bleed. Once he was done, he put a bandage on it, to stop the bleeding. "Sorry about that," He said, looking back up at me. "I didn't think that Aquamarine would come in to check up on you so early."

"It's ok," I murmured, watching as he worked, "I didn't think she would come in and visit."

"In all the years I have known Aquamarine, I have never not seen her try and interrupt in every single step of taking care of the Tributes," He murmured, taking out a small container, shaking it as he spoke.

"So I'm guessing you work with her a lot?" I asked, thinking that he must have known Aquamarine pretty well to say something like that.

Briar nodded, "She even did it when I was taking care of my sister." He said softly, looking up at me as if he hadn't meant to say that, like it had spilled out of his lips.

"Your sister?" I asked, trying to see if I heard him right, "Why would she try to come see you when you were taking care of her?"

"Because she was a tribute at one point," He murmured softly, uncapping the small container to reveal a light pink polish. He leaned forward to take the cap, which had a small brush before he painted my nails with it. Normally I would have wrinkled my nose at the pink color, it was way to girly for me, but I didn't focus on that, I focused instead on what Briar was saying. "She was?" I asked, obviously shocked, she couldn't have been from the Capital then, I wondered how Briar even got to be part of the Capital.

"We were from District 1," He murmured as he worked on my nails, "We didn't think that my sister, Elora, would be a witch, our family hadn't had a magic user in generations. We had thought that it was completely wiped from our family, only to find out that she could use magic." He moved onto my other nail, his head tilted downwards in concentration as he worked. "She was one of the tributes, barely made it off her platform before someone shot her right through the heart." He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment before he continued his work. "I'll never forget what they did," He murmured, keeping his voice soft.

I realized that I was seeing a side of Briar that perhaps I hadn't seen before, the way that he was so emotional, I was sure that he tried to hide it. "I'm sorry," I told him softly, knowing that he probably saw his sister with every girl tribute that goes by.

Briar nodded, accepting my words. "I see these young kids, every year, dying." He murmured, keeping his eyes trained on my nails, "So young, Elora had just turned 11 the day before The Reaping, I told her that there was no way that she would be picked since she was so young because there were older kids that were starting to get towards the end of the picking age but she was picked." He leaned back in his chair, looking down at my freshly painted nails. "I didn't even get to say goodbye, back then I had been taken to the Capital since I had a flair for design, they wanted me to design clothes and take care of the people's clothes. To be honest, I hated the work at first; I didn't understand why the Capital people were allowed to have all these extra…frivolities when people in the other Districts were barely able to feed themselves every day." He sighed, finally meeting my eyes. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

I felt a pang in my chest as Briar talked, feeling bad for the Capital man. I could understand his anger, if I had a sibling that was taken away from me, barely able to have a chance before she was killed, I would hold anger for the Gamemakers as well. "I'm sorry," I repeated, not knowing what else to say.

Briar shrugged, not saying anything else. He kept working on my nails before he stood up, looking down at me. "There will be more work on you once you get to the Capital, but for now you seem to be in decent condition." He checked his watch and then looked back up at me. "You're not supposed to go to sleep or leave the room in case you mess up your make up."

I frowned, not understanding why that was a rule, it didn't make any sense. Before I could tell him this he raised his hand, shaking his head. "Don't argue, I'll get Blye to come in if you want, maybe you two can talk?" He frowned, "Are you two allies?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know," I answered honestly, running my hand up my arm. "We haven't really talked about it yet."

"I'll have him come in then," He told me with a small smile before he left my room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**Darkest Day**

I had moved to sit on my bed, wondering if Blye would actually come. Were we allies? Did he want to be allies? I didn't blame him if he didn't want to be, after all, I didn't have much to bring to the table other than my magic and he didn't know that I was able to do magic. I shook my head, looking out of the window as the scenery passed us by. I wondered how easy it would be to try to break open the window and jump out. It wasn't that I was actively trying to find ways to kill myself before the Games, it was just, now that I was confronted with the fact that I would die very soon, the opportunities seemed endless. I could die during the bloodbath or right after, I could die on the last night or on the first night. I could cause my own death by accident or someone could kill me. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. I looked up, figuring it was Briar, telling me that Blye didn't want to talk to me. "Yes?" I asked, figuring that I wouldn't blame Blye if he didn't want to talk. It wasn't like we had anything to talk about.

It definitely shocked me when I saw Blye come into my room. If he had looked good before, he looked even better now. His stylist had somehow had given his hair a few highlights, some of his hair a few shades lighter than the rest. "Hi," I said softly, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Briar-" He said, a perplexed looking coming to his face. "Was I not supposed to come?" He gestured behind him, where Briar probably was now.

"No," I said, shaking my head. I opened my mouth and then closed it, "I mean, no as in it's ok that you're here." I gave him a small smile, gesturing for him to sit in one of the seats. "Briar thought it would be a good idea for me to stay awake so I didn't mess any of my make up before we got into the Capital."

Blye nodded slowly, a smirk coming to his face, "If it's any conciliation," He murmured, "I think I liked you without the make-up."

"Thanks," I said, looking down at my lap with a small smile, "I doubt the rest of the Capital will say the same though."

Briar shook his head, "The only reason that they did some of our stuff here is because they wanted us to look nice for the other stylists who will do even more work on us later." He sighed, looking out the window. "We're going to arrive early in the morning, have more work done on us and then be able to sleep for a few hours. Then we're going to our interviews and then we get to train for two days. We'll be able to catch up on some sleep and be able to gather our strength before we have to fight."

"Great," I murmured, wondering if I would be able to sleep at all when I was in the arena. "Do we know what the place is going to look like?"

Blye glanced over at me with a chuckle. "Why would we get to know that?"

I shrugged, "Maybe the news got leaked?"

He shook his head, "Nothing gets leaked in the Hunger Games, that stuff is kept perfectly locked up until the Games start."

"Really?" I questioned, arching my eyebrow. "How come the video for the tributes was leaked to us then, a night before the rest of Panem got to see it?" A smile came to my lips, realizing that maybe the Capital wasn't perfectly locking all of its stuff.

"That's probably just for us so we can get prepared," He told him, looking as if I was an idiot for suggesting it.

I shook my head, toying with the idea that the reason we were allowed to see it was because the video had been leaked to tributes a long time ago and it gave them an unfair advantage. "You know," I said, not exactly sure why I was saying it, "My stylist's sister was in the Games."

Blye looked up, looking interested, "Really?" He asked, "How old was she?"

"Eleven," I answered, "It was her birthday the day before the Reaping."

"That's harsh," Blye said, absently scratching his wrist. "I can't even imagine how that would feel, thinking with childish innocence that you were safe because you were young."

I nodded, knowing what he meant, "I mean, I thought I was safe because I was careful, I didn't try to do any spells in public and when I did try, I did it in secret."

Blye looked over at me, as if he wanted to say something. He just nodded though, "I didn't try to practice," He told me, "Not after I became a Peacekeeper."

"Why did you become one?" I asked, "Wasn't that even more dangerous than just fitting in?"

"It was a job," He said, shrugging, "I had to take care of myself. My parents had magic and my dad was killed off when the Games first started, since my mother was pregnant they waited until she had me, in case I was a muggle."

"And they thought you were a muggle?" I asked, surprised. Usually they had a blood test, to detect if there was any sort of magic running through you. With my parents, they gave my father's blood. They Tester's didn't really check to make sure whose blood it was, they figured that people were too scared to try and cheat the system.

"Yeah, I had a non-identical twin who died," He said, "Somehow my blood got messed up with his, someone labeled it wrong, and I was the muggle, my twin was the wizard."

I couldn't help but wonder what this meant about the system of the Capital, if it was so easy to mess stuff up, was the Capital really all that powerful? "I'm sorry," I told him, "About your twin."

He shrugged, "It wasn't like I knew him, he died right after he was born." He looked back over at me before looking back out the window. "Look," He murmured, pointing outside.

I leaned forward, looking out of the window. I could see the sunrise starting to make the sky a light pink, the colors bleeding together across the sky. I looked towards the horizon, seeing the tops of the Capital buildings. I sighed softly, how could something so beautiful be so deadly? We would die there, our bodies shipped back to our District and then buried in the local cemetery. The only victor would never be heard from ever again. I sighed, looking back up at Blye, wondering how long he would last in the Games.

"It's pretty, right?" He asked with a smile, "The sunrise I mean."

"Yeah," I agreed, "It is." Our minds were on two different things. "How long till we get there do you think?"

"Maybe ten minutes?" He estimated, craning his head to look at the Capital came even more into view.

"We're going to have to talk," I said after a second, knowing that if I was going to survive the bloodbath, I had to have an ally. "You and I, even though we're supposed to be enemies in the Games-"

"I was hoping we could be allies," He said, cutting me off, "Is that what you were about to ask?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah," I said softly. "That's what I was thinking."

"So is that a yes then?" He asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Yeah," I said, nodding my head. I paused, a smile coming to my lips. "What happens I all of the tributes become allies with the others and they refuse to try and kill each other off? What would the Gamemakers do?"

"They'd kill us with some sort of forest fire or give us some sort of reason to scatter and run in terror." He shrugged as if he had thought about it already. I wondered if he had, it was an interesting concept. He stood up suddenly and offered me his hand. "Come on," He murmured. It was then that I realized the train was starting to slow. My eyes widened and I took his hand, letting him help me up. We walked like that, hand in hand as we came out of my room. It wasn't a romantic gesture; I didn't feel anything when I was holding his hand. It was more for comfort, we were the only people from our District here and we knew what the other was like. Besides Aqua, who would soon be leaving us, we were the only familiar things from our past.

I saw Aquamarine walking down the hallway towards our room, stopping when she saw both of us there. "I was just about to get you two," She said, looking a bit surprised that we were holding hands.

I squeezed Blye's hand gently just as the train came to a stop. I looked up at him and he smiled down at me as if he was trying to reassure me that everything was going to be ok.

Aquamarine gestured for us to follow her as she opened up the door to lead us off the train. I stepped off onto the platform with Blye, looking around. It looked like we weren't the only ones there though, there were other trains starting to pull into the station. I froze, wondering if we would be able to see the tributes. I noticed that the doors to the train weren't on our side though, so we wouldn't see them as they came onto their own platform.

Aquamarine called us, gesturing for us to follow her. We followed after her and I wondered what would happen if we didn't, of course there had to be some sort of Peacemakers along the area to make sure that we would stay in line.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**The Hunger Games Were Fast Approaching**

We made our way from the underground train station to some sort of building. Blye and I were separated, going off to two different sections of the building. I noticed that Briar had somehow gotten to the building before us. He smiled over at me before he led me to down the hall and towards a door. I glanced over my shoulder to see Blye's stylist lead him to another room.

"Here we are," Briar said, opening the door. He gestured towards the small room. It was brightly lit, a metal table was in the middle and a few women were standing together, waiting for something. I guess I was that something. "Hop up; they're just going to do a few things," Briar told me, giving me a reassuring smile.

I didn't want to be examined, because that's exactly what it felt like they were going to do. I slowly sat down on the table, almost hissing as the cold metal touched my skin. I sat there, wondering what they had in mind. Briar stepped away as a few women started to come in front of me, holding a clipboard. They walked around the table checking things off on their clipboard and jotting down a few notes. I wasn't sure what exactly it was that they were doing, I just knew that I felt like a fish inside of a fish bowl. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. When I mentioned this, the ladies shot each other glances, as if unsure of how to respond. I guess they had never thought of the tributes having feelings towards how they were treated. I shrugged slightly before they started to look at my nails and one of the girls started to check my blood pressure. "I'm pretty sure I'm in fine health," I told them, trying not to roll my eyes. The girl looked up at me before noting my blood pressure on her chart. "Just making sure, the Gamemakers want to know everything about their tributes."

Of course they did. I looked up at Briar who just shrugged, "It's standard procedure," He murmured. "After this we'll have the opening ceremony and then the interviews."

I nodded, looking around as the girls busily moved around the room. The opening ceremony was a big deal; I remember seeing people from our District on the tv as they moved around on chariots. That would be Blye and me in only a few hours. I felt a sense of dread as I realized this; the Hunger Games were fast approaching.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve**

**Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble**

I had been moved into a new room with Blye, we were sitting in two seats in front of our stylists who were talking together and pointing out different designs on clipboards. The room itself wasn't much to look at. It had gray walls and the same color floors. There were brightly colored cloths all over the room though, attracting the eye and making the room a lot more interesting. Even though I was in District 8, I didn't think I had ever seen this much cloth in my life. It was insane. I looked over at Blye, seeing that they barely touched him at all. They had styled his hair a bit more, making sure that there wasn't a hair out of place, but other than that nothing had changed. I guess Blye was already perfect to the Capital's eyes.

"You look good," Blye murmured to me. His eyes widened slightly and he coughed, "Not that you didn't look good before, I mean, you look nice."

"Uh, thanks," I said, giving him a small smile. I wasn't sure why he was complimenting me, we were already allies, what more could he want? I looked up as Briar motioned towards me before pointing to something on his clipboard to Blye's stylist. "What do you think they have in mind?" I asked him, trying to remember the clothing that people from our District had on before.

"Probably what they always make the tributes wear," Blye said with a shrug. "Something to do with the Peacekeepers." Since our District made the Peacekeeper uniforms it was usually a tradition that we wore the same uniform.

"I doubt they'll be doing that for us," I told him, "After all you were a Peacekeeper, it might send the wrong message." I glanced back over at the stylists. They had gotten up from their seats and were grabbing different cloths and talking with each other in quiet tones. "I wonder if they'll do something special for us, since we weren't even supposed to be here," I said, wondering what exactly it was that they could do. The stylists were known to be creative, which is why they were working for the Capital. I had to admit I was always very impressed whenever I saw their work on the tributes as they passed by on the televisions. It was almost like their final farewell, looking their best right before they were sentenced to death. It was a morbid thought to think of but that was my future at the moment. This is what I would be faced with in a few short hours.

After the stylists were done talking, Briar had been nodding his head excitedly almost the whole conversation, they turned to us. "Ready to see what we have planned?" He asked, holding onto his clipboard with a look of excitement. "No one will have anything as spectacular as this."

The first thought that ran through my mind was that I didn't want to see how spectacular it was. Would they be draping us in different colorful patterns? Maybe making a change to the Peacekeeper uniform?

"Sure," Blye finally answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess so."

Briar turned around his clipboard and showed us a sketch of two people, one male and one female. I figured it was supposed to be us. The male had a plain Peacekeeper uniform on, like most District 8 tributes had but this one had a twist. Instead of the tan color of the Peacekeepers uniform, the cloth was black and the Peacekeeper badge had been replaced. The new badge on the uniform was a simple wand with stars flying out of it. I glanced up at Briar, wondering if he thought this was a good idea. I glanced back at the clipboard to see what I would be wearing. If I thought it would be the same as Blye's, I was wrong.

It was a long black dress with what looked like bits of color being reflected off of it. It almost reminded me of a pink dress that my grandmother had once worn at the Yule Ball back at Hogwarts. She had looked beautiful there; her hair had been perfectly coiled and put up in an elegant up do; which wasn't an easy feat with hair like ours. A small cloak was thrown over the girl's shoulders and was attached with what looked like a small golden chain. Where the clasps should have met were two wings that formed into a dragon. If I had any thoughts that Briar was going to try to tone down the fact that we were witches and wizards, I was wrong.

"So what do you think?" Blye's stylist asked.

"I think we're going to get killed in the chariots right there," I said, thinking that when the Gamekeepers saw this, it would be a direct call to kill us. There was no way that they would let us flaunt who we were, especially not when we weren't registered magical beings. We had defied the Capital and we knew we had to pay.

"Perfect," Briar said with a grin, his eyes shining brightly as he glanced between the two of us. "It's about time the Gamemakers got riled up."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Something Wicked This Way Comes

_(Hey guys, I hope you're liking the story so far. If you are, please review it; tell me what you all are thinking!)_

I had to admit, seeing the look on Briar's face when he said those words was definitely worth it. I knew that he held a grudge for the Capital ever since his sister was killed in the Games. I felt bad for him, his sister was barely a teen before she was killed, and she had her whole life ahead of her. I glanced over at Blye, wondering what he was thinking about this whole thing. Did he have an opinion or was he just going to go along with what his stylist told him? I watched him carefully, seeing that there was a flicker of a smile that ran across his lips. "I like it," He said finally before glancing over at me. "What do you think?" As soon as the smile was there, it was gone, vanished as if it was never there.

"It's definitely going to attract attention," I said, especially my outfit. I knew that there were going to be cameras all over the place and lights as well. The reflective pieces of my dress were going to glisten brightly from those lights. We would be the center of attention.

"No one else will look like you two will," Briar said with a grin. "We have also individually created a look for the interviews." The stylist picked up two clipboards and handed them to us.

I looked down at the clipboard that was given to me, seeing that it was another design of a dress. The words that Aquamarine had spoken to me came back_, __"The fact that you're a girl will play into your favors, act…innocent, sweet. The audience will eat you up."_ This dress not only spoke innocence, it was the personification of sweet. It was a white eyelet dress that came to the models' knees in the picture. There was a sweetheart neckline and it was strapless. A colorful sash drew the dress together at the waist. It was simple but I figured that was the desired effect. I looked up at Briar who looked as if he was worried that I wouldn't like it. It was very pretty, something that I would never wear back home. The fabric alone would cost more than I made in two years. Even in District 8, where we made fabric, it was hard to get your own. Most of the clothes that I wore were hand-me-downs from neighbors who had gained them from someone else as well. If by the odd chance that I did get something new, it cost me much more than a week's worth of pay. My parents were already trying to scrape by and make as much as they could to support us and the money I made at my own job was barely enough to keep us going. I couldn't help but wonder how they were. They had to know by now that I was picked for the Games; the Tributes' video had to have been shown already. I wondered once more why they hadn't come to see me, were they terrified that they might get in trouble for hiding me as a witch? My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone clearing their throat. I glanced up, seeing that Briar was still standing there, waiting for me to say something. "It's perfect," I told him, honestly meaning it. If this is what Aquamarine wanted me to look like, then Briar hit the idea right on the nail.

"What's yours like?" Blye asked, leaning in his seat to glance at my clipboard. He chuckled softly, the sound resonating deep in his chest. "Cute," He said, looking back up at me after a moment. There was a teasing tone in his voice, almost playful as if we were longtime friends. This surprised me because I wasn't used to hearing Blye talk like this. Sure there were a few times where we messed around with each other but we didn't know each other for very long. I found myself playing along as I rolled my eyes. "Shut up," I said, a smile making its way onto my lips. "What does yours look like?" I reached out and tilted his board towards me so I could see. It was a simple suit, nothing extravagant. I was actually surprised when I saw this. Of course my dress had a purpose, to make me look like I wasn't competition and to get me more sponsors, whatever that would do for me, but Blye didn't need that. Usually the outfits for the interviews were extravagant and over the top but Blye's suit was just a regular one you would see a richer man wearing. The only odd part was the tie, which matched my sash. I figured that the colorful tie and sash were supposed to represent our District, bonding the two of us together. "Very…orderly," I said finally, looking back up at him.

Blye shook his head with a smile. "I mean, I _was_ a Peacekeeper…orderly is in my nature."

"I don't think you did a very good job at that," I teased.

Blye gave me a sad smile, his eyes darkening suddenly. "I suppose I didn't," He said. "I also didn't do a good job of hiding myself either. I only needed another month and I wouldn't be of eligible age to be picked."

I froze when he said that, letting his words sink in. The rules were that any witch or wizard could be put into the Games between the ages of 11 and 18. Anything past that age group wasn't the "prime age". They would be monitored until their death, making sure that any child that they did have, wasn't magical. After the Games were introduced, most of the 18 year olds were the ones to be picked for the Games, so that less witches and wizards would live. The "prime age" rule meant that if Blye was able to not be picked this year, he could have lived a normal life. He could have had a family and lived past the next few days. I might have been able to as well, if I hadn't been picked. "Blye," I said, my voice dropping suddenly. It was as if it was only the two of us in the room, Briar and the other stylist disappearing from my view as I focused on Blye. "I'm so sorry."

Blye glanced up at me and shook his head. "I knew that eventually they would find out, even if I was past 18." He gave me a sad half smile. "My luck couldn't have lasted forever." He turned his head, looking at the two stylists. "When do we have to meet for the chariot ride?"

"In another few hours," His stylist responded. "You two can relax for a bit while we make your clothes." She glanced at me, the tiniest of smiles coming to her lips. "You can relax, if you mess your hair up, Briar can fix it before the ride."

I relaxed, glad that I didn't have to worry about messing anything up anymore. If I had messed something up, I would feel bad because Briar had worked so hard on me to make me look the way I was now. "Thank you," I said, standing up. I handed Briar the clipboard and turned, walking towards the two doors. I heard footsteps following after me and I turned my head to see Blye following me. "Let's get something to eat," He murmured, "After the chariot ride and the interview; I doubt you'll want to eat then." He placed his hand on my upper back and guided me through the doors.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Decisions**

_Hey guys! If you like the story, please review it? I'd love read what you guys think. _

Blye guided me out the doors and into the hallway. He smiled down at me as we walked. "How are you feeling?" He asked me curiously.

"I'm ok, why?" I asked, surprised that he was concerned for me.

"Just making sure," He said with a careful shrug. He smiled down at me once more as he opened another door. It led into a rather large room with a long table that held different food on it. Once again I wondered who was in charge of making all of this food. It was enough to feed all of District 8. There was no way we could eat all of it so why did they put all this effort into making it for us? I sat down in one of the seats, leaning forward to rest my elbows on the table. I glanced over as Blye sat down in the seat next to me. He started to grab as much food as he could, gathering it onto his plate.

"Hungry?" I asked, resting my cheek against the palm of my hand as I watched him with amusement. I was glad that Blye had suggested doing this, it actually got my mind off of the fact that we would be going for the chariot rides in only a few hours.

"Starving," Blye said, glancing up at me after his plate was completely full, some food was even hanging precariously off the edge of his plate. "You should eat something too," He said, his voice taking on a protective tone. "I don't want you to feel dizzy while we're doing our interviews. Someone will notice and that won't look good for you."

I nodded, now knowing why he wanted me to eat. If I looked weak or looked like there was something wrong, the sponsors wouldn't want to support me. Since Blye was my ally, it would reflect against him too. I started to pile some food onto my plate, listening to the sound of Blye munching away on something crunchy. "Blye?" I asked; my gaze on my plate as I spoke.

"Yeah?" He asked, his voice muffled slightly from the food that was still in his mouth.

"I was thinking we should probably get allied with someone else, shouldn't we?" My gaze rose to look up at him. I had been thinking about it for a while, thinking that the more allies we had, the better off we would be. My only concern was that one of our allies might turn on us. Not that there was no chance that Blye would turn on me but I felt like there was less of a chance since we came from the same District. I nibbled on my bottom lip wondering what would happen if it was Blye and me in the last two spots. Would I be able to kill him or would he just give me the easy way out and kill me? My thoughts were broken when Blye spoke up.

"I don't think so," He said, his answer surprising me.

"Why not?" I asked, my brow furrowing. I thought for sure that Blye would have liked the idea.

"I don't trust anyone else," He said, his eyes looking straight at me. "It's going to be you and me until the very end. Ok?" He reached out, putting his hand on my shoulder with a small smile.

"I-" I didn't know what to say to his gesture. All I did was nod my head, a bit speechless. Why would he trust me? He had no reason to. We had just been thrown together to play in a deadly game that was supposed to extinguish our race. I supposed that there was some sort of friendship that we had developed over time because neither one of us had thought that we would have gotten caught.

Blye smiled and dropped his hand, turning once more to eat his lunch. I couldn't help but wonder if he thought that he was going to win. His odds were probably better than mine since he was stronger than I was. I ran my fingers through my hair and glanced down at my lunch, deciding to force myself to eat so I wouldn't be dizzy like Blye had said.

After lunch was done, Blye and I just sat together at the table. It was sort of a comfortable silence, neither one of us having anything to say. We were both engrossed in our own thoughts. I wondered what he was thinking about, curious to know what went through his mind. I wondered if he was thinking about his family. I knew that I couldn't stop thinking about my parents. How were they doing? We're they holding up ok? I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't show up after the Reaping. I had an hour to see my friends and family and no one came; and I had no idea why. I sighed loudly, finally breaking the silence that had been there for the past half hour. I glanced over at Blye who was staring past me, at the doors. I turned my head to look at the doors as well, hearing the sound of footsteps slowly approaching us.

The door opened and three people walked in, Aquamarine and the two stylists. Then the question was asked, "Ready?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**No Time Like The Present**

_(Hey guys! Who is ready for the Games? They're coming up soon! If you like the story, please review it and tell me what you think!)_

I looked up at the three adults in front of us. I sighed softly, knowing that there was no way that we could avoid this any longer. I stood up after a moment and glanced back at Blye. He got up after me, running his fingers through his hair. "We're ready," He answered.

We followed them into the room that we had been in a few hours ago. I looked at the outfits that they had designed for us. I was surprised how fast they had made the clothes. They had to have some sort of secret for making the clothes so fast. There were two mannequins in front of us, standing side by side. One was a girl and the other was a boy. I looked at the Peacekeeper uniform on the mannequin for the boy, seeing exactly what Blye's stylist had drawn up. The black Peacekeeper uniform was stark and such a contrast to what I was used to. I looked at the badge on the uniform, seeing that they had made it like they had in the drawing as well. The brown wand with stars and sparks flying out of the tip. "Wow," I whispered softly. I looked to my own mannequin, seeing the long black dress. There was sequin that was sewn into the dress in shapes of stars. There were little pieces of reflective glass that made the dress throw off color when it hit the light. I glanced over at the cloak that they had thrown over the dress. It was silver instead of black like the rest of the dress. I reached out and took the cloth in my hands, feeling how silky and smooth it was. I watched as it turned in the light, once again reflecting off colors like a rainbow. This was more than I could even imagine; I had never had clothes that were this nice before. I could never have dreamed for clothes this nice. It was too bad that the only reason that I was going to be wearing this was because I was going to be killed soon. I let go of the cloak and looked at how it stayed on the body. The golden chain was there on either side of the fabric of the cloak. In the middle where the mannequin's chest was laid a golden dragon; it was as big as the palm of my hand. It would definitely be seen by the cameras for all the Districts to see.

Briar directed me to a screen on the other side of the room that would hide me from the view of everyone else so that I could change into the outfit. I felt a thrill run through me when I started to put it on. I didn't know if it was nerves or it was because I could really show off to the Capital. Whatever this feeling was, I knew I liked it. I was going to do everything in my power to make the Gamemaker's life a challenge with this round of the Games. Once I was down changing I came out from behind the screen. I cleared my throat, tucking a strand of hair that had come undone from the hairstyle that Briar had done for me. "How do I look?" I asked; my voice soft. I saw Briar look up and grin. He walked towards me, holding a long mirror in his hands, carrying it towards me. "Look for yourself," He said, setting down the mirror in front of me.

I looked at the girl in the mirror, almost not recognizing myself. My breath caught and I couldn't help but wonder if this was what my grandmother looked like when she was going to the Yule Ball. I bit my lip and noticed Blye coming out from behind the screen from the mirror. I turned around, looking watching as he approached me. "Hey," He said, his lips turning up into a smile. "You look great."

"Thanks," I said, a smile coming to my own lips. "You don't look that bad yourself."

Blye chuckled and glanced at himself in the mirror. "Come on," He teased, turning around to look at himself from the side "I look better than that and you know it."

I waved my hand at him mockingly, "Sure, sure," I said, rolling my eyes. I turned once more, looking at both of us in the mirror. It was so strange to see ourselves like this. Two kids from District 8, where we would have been wearing hand me downs and ragged clothing until it basically fell off our forms, were now wearing these amazing clothes. We had been fed properly the past few days and I couldn't even remember what it felt like to be hungry. I looked at the two teenagers in the mirror, knowing that we would definitely strike up a conversation with the Capital people. Anything to do with magic, except for the Games, was extremely taboo and depending on what you were talking about, could be illegal. In school some topics couldn't be answered because they involved magic. With these outfits we were definitely going to stand out. We were doing exactly what the Gamemakers didn't want. We were standing out, not because our outfits were over the top but because we were showing off our heritage. Our stylists weren't afraid to see us like this, it seemed like they wanted us to succeed and to show off who we were. If we were going to be killed for what we were then I was glad we were going like this.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen **

**The President's Speech **

We were guided outside of the room and taken to another room that reminded me of a garage. There were 12 chariots waiting there. I couldn't help but put my hand on Blye's forearm, squeezing it gently. "I'm nervous," I whispered softly. This would be the first time that we would see all the Tributes in real life. I watched as different doors opened up, like the one that we had walked through. Two figures walked out from each door at different times. Some started walking quickly away from their partners while others just ignored each other. It seemed like it was only Blye and I that had some sort of communication going on. Was it not normal to make a friend out of your fellow Tribute? They never showed the relationships between the Tributes on tv so I was sure that there had to be a relationship like ours at some time.

Blye shook his head, placing his hand on top of mine as we walked towards our chariot. "Don't worry, Genevieve," He murmured, looking down at me seriously. "You'll be ok. It's just a quick trip around so that people can get an eyeful and then we're back here, alright?"

I nodded my head and sighed softly. He was right. There was nothing to be nervous about. I walked with him towards the chariot, not being able to help but look at the other Tributes as they boarded their own chariots. They weren't that big, just enough space for a bench and space for your legs to go. Blye let me go up into the chariot first. I stepped up onto the small step that was attached to the side of the chariot and got in, sitting down on the bench. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment as I felt Blye's weight settle down on the bench next to me. I opened my eyes, looking up at him.

"Ready?" He asked, his voice cracking for just a second. That's when I could tell that Blye wasn't as confident as I thought he was. He was nervous just like me; he just wasn't showing it like I was.

"As I'll ever be," I said, exhaling loudly. I watched as District One's chariot took off, the Tributes looking in opposite directions as if they didn't even acknowledge each other. After District One's chariot took off, the rest of the chariots went off in order.

When it was our turn, our chariot leapt forward and guided us towards double doors that opened effortlessly. As soon as we were outside of the room we were bombarded by noise. My eyes widened as we moved down the path. I craned my neck up, looking at the stands of Capital people who were cheering. They were high up, staring down at us. I felt like I was a bug in comparison to the Capital people. There was a huge screen that was held at the end of the path, set up high above a platform. I watched as the President of Panem come out, putting his hands behind his back. He was pretty small for such an important person. I couldn't help but feel that he wasn't as intimidating as I thought he would be in person. I had seen the President many times but he always looked so powerful and strong. He didn't look like that now as he stood there in front of the Tributes. As our chariot was drawn forward I felt a nudge in my side and I glanced over at Blye who was waving to the people on his side of the stands. I realized he was trying to remind me to do what he was doing. I raised my arm and started to wave it, my face breaking into a smile. "Do you think there are any sponsors out there?" I asked, looking around.

"No idea," Blye murmured, still waving to the people of the Capital. "All I know is, if there are, I'm definitely going to try to capture their attention." He gestured to the big screen above the platform that we were headed towards and I saw that we were on the screen. I watched in awe as our image was projected in front of us, the words "District 8" was written below it in big letters. My smile grew and I watched as Blye blew a kiss to one of the women in the crowd. I laughed and shook my head, not being able to help but find it funny. These were the same people we were entertaining, the reason why our deaths were put onto a tv and broadcasted across Panem. It seemed so odd to me. I couldn't help but wonder if my parents were watching us right now. Were they crying or were they happy to see that I was alive? I knew that they would be rooting for me if they saw me. I kind of hoped that my parents wouldn't be watching though, I didn't want them to worry about me being alive or watching my death. That wasn't what I wanted. I glanced up when the screen changed to show District 9. I looked up at Blye who frowned when he saw this. He put his arm around me and then waved once more to the people. I grinned when I saw that the screen was put back on us once more. They zoomed in on our outfits, showing the dragon clasp and the badge that was on Blye's chest. There was a rumbling that went throughout the crowd and I couldn't help but feel good. I knew that they knew us because we weren't supposed to be called to be Tributes. Now that we were wearing these outfits, they knew that we were embracing it and showing off. I watched as the rest of the Districts were put onto the screen. I was surprised when we were put back onto it though. I nudged Blye and pointed at the screen. "Look!" I said, seeing that my eyes look like they lit up on the screen.

Blye laughed and squeezed his arm around my shoulders before he tapped my shoulder. "Smile and wave," He said softly, "This is good."

I nodded and waved once more, feeling the chariot start to slow down as we arrived next to the platform. I looked at the President once more; he put on glasses with shaky hands. My eyes narrowed slightly and I wondered how old he was. I saw that his brown hair was peppered with a bit of white. There were wrinkles that looked like they were permanently etched into his forehead and the corner of his eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed before looking at the chariots. Once District 12's chariot came into the line the President walked to the microphone. "Hello!" He said, his voice sounding strong and confident, different from his appearance. "And welcome to the Hunger Games!" He swept his arms out wide and looked up into the stands as people cheered loudly. It looked like streamers and confetti was being thrown from the stands. I was surprised at the reaction from the people. Sure, I had seen this all before on tv in the safety of my own home but this was different. It was so strange to see these people cheering about our soon to be deaths. They did realize that we were going to die, right? This could easily have been them if their parents had carried the wizarding gene. I found myself grasping Blye's forearm once more, wishing that we weren't here. If Blye hadn't been caught, he would have been able to live. I sighed, not even listening to the President anymore. It was the same speech he gave every year. There was almost no difference. I realized then that the screen was still on us. I looked up at Blye who was staring straight at the President, a look of shock in his eyes as the President mentioned us. "…and I know that we had a shock from the Tributes of District 8, but we are so glad that we have caught them in time to participate!" He tilted his head down to look down at us, his glasses slipping down his nose slightly. He no longer looked like the older frail man that I thought he looked like. He looked angry and absolutely venomous. I knew he was going to use us as an example. Others like us wouldn't be able to get away. We were going to be killed off as quickly as he could kill us off, in probably the worst possible way. My hand squeezed Blye's arm once more and I bit my lip nervously. The President straightened and cleared his throat. "The proper punishments have been given out to those who were involved-"

I couldn't believe what I just heard '_The proper punishments have been given out to those who were involved_'? What was that supposed to mean? Did that mean that they had punished my parents for hiding me from the Capital? I heard Blye gulp loudly and he squeezed my shoulder, his hand resting there. I stared at the President in shock, listening to his every word afterwards. He didn't say anything else about District 8, moving on to how the Games were going to help kill off wizards and witches, the 'trouble makers' of Panem. Which would mean more food and money to share with all of the Districts when they finally took care of all the wizards and witches.

"Now," He continued, "May the odds be ever in your favor!"

The chariots started to move once more, taking a final lap around the platform before we headed towards the garage we had started in. All I could think about was what the President had said before. My parents had been punished for hiding me from the government. If I wasn't going to try to mess with the Capital before during the Games, I knew for certain that I was going to try to mess with them now.

_(So what do you guys think Genevieve is going to do to mess with the Games? Write it in the reviews!)_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**We're Off To See The Interviewer!**

After the chariot ride we were guided back into the garage. Blye got out of the chariot and then held out his hand to help me down. "Thanks," I said, taking his hand. I got out of the chariot and looked up at Blye. "So what now?" I asked.

Blye shrugged, dropping my hand. He turned to look around the area and I followed suit. I watched as the Tributes got out of their own chariots. Districts 11 and 12 looked frightened. I understood why, they were usually the first to die in these Games. District 12 and 11 usually were the ones that didn't have that much food or money to go around. It was even harder to find jobs in the area, from what I heard. Whenever I watched the Games on tv it was usually District 12 or 11 tributes that died first. Unless they were lucky enough to get out of the bloodbath. I looked away, not wanting to think about the bloodbath. It would come soon enough for us and I didn't want to focus on it until I absolutely had to. The Games would be held in only a few short days and then I would have to try to stay alive. "Genevieve," Blye said, grasping my wrist to get my attention. He pointed over where Aquamarine was and we walked towards her.

"You both did lovely!" She said, seeming to be very excited. Her blue hands were clapping for us softly and I could only imagine little puffs of blue dust coming off her hands. There wasn't though and I had to admit I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't. "Now, we're going to get you two to bed so that you can be well rested for the interviews, alright?" She grinned brightly and then moved behind us, putting her hands on our backs to push us into one of the doors.

"When will that be broadcasted to the rest of the Districts?" Blye asked curiously. I glanced over at him and wondered if he had the same thought that I did, about our parents watching us.

Aquamarine glanced down at Blye curiously. "Don't you know the chariot ride is live?" She asked, her blue eyelashes fluttering at him.

"It is?" I asked. I frowned, not knowing about that before.

Aquamarine nodded, "Yes," She said, looking down at me with a smile. "We want the Districts to feel like they're involved with it too, like they're living in the moment. They're trying to get rid of the infestation of witches and wizards too."

I shook my head; any shred of respect of love that I might have gained for Aquamarine was gone in that instant. How could she say that? We weren't an infestation we were just born this way. It wasn't our fault. We were just like anyone else that was a muggle; it's just that we were able to do a bit more than they were. It wasn't like we were a different species that had come from outer space to come and sabotage the human race. We were human too, just born a bit differently. I caught Blye looking over at me and I just nodded, knowing that he was thinking along the same lines that I was. I made a face and looked away, letting Aquamarine lead us to what would be our bedrooms for the nest three days. Then we would be in the arena for the Games. We were put into an elevator and I watched as Aquamarine pressed one of the buttons to our floor. There were only 12 floors, one for each District I guessed since Aquamarine pressed the button with the number 8 on it.

"So, tomorrow will be your interview and then you'll get to go to two training days before you are put into the Games," Aquamarine said.

"What's the point of having training days if we're just going to die in the end?" I asked, turning to look at her. It didn't make any sense to me.

"It's not for you," Aquamarine said, acting as if I was vain for thinking that my death was all about me.

"No of course not," Blye said, cutting in. "It's to train us so that we become more interesting to watch. It's no fun to watch a few kids stumble and fall down a ditch and die, right?" He spat at Aquamarine. His eyes narrowed at her and I was actually worried that he might try to attack her. I wasn't exactly sure if I would stop him if he did try to attack her. After all, she was willing to let us die so easily, didn't that make it ok to let her die too?

Aquamarine shook her head, "He's right that we're doing this for you to make it more entertaining, but I'm doing it to make sure that you can get farther in the Games."

"Why do you care how far we get?" I asked, there was no way that she actually cared so what was the reason? The elevator dinged and the doors opened, our two stylists were standing there. I glanced at Blye, seeing that he was quaking with anger. I took his wrist gently and smiled at him tentatively. "It's ok," I told him, trying to calm him down. "Get some sleep, ok?"

Blye nodded and took a deep breath. "Alright," He said finally. He slipped his arm out of my grasp and looked to his stylist. She nodded with her head and started to guide him down the hallway to my left. I looked to Briar, my stylist, who smiled at me. "Hey," He said, resting his hand on my shoulder. "You two did awesome."

"Thanks Briar," I said, surprised that no one had said anything about the President's speech yet.

"The look on the Capital people's faces when they realized that your outfits had to do with magic was priceless," He said, tightening his grip on my shoulder with excitement. He grinned and looked down at me. "Now what did you think about the other Tributes?"

I shrugged, "I was too busy trying to smile and wave to really notice anything about them," I told him honestly.

Briar nodded, "Well," He said, pointing to a door. "That's your room there; I'll be coming in tomorrow to get you ready with your outfit and your hair, ok?"

I nodded and sighed. "After today I'm definitely going to be able to sleep well." I put my hand on the door and looked up at Briar, waiting for him to say anything else.

"There's a tv in your room," He said, "You can watch the chariot ride, it'll be on repeat for a bit."

"Thanks Briar," I said, nodding my head. I felt dead on my feet at the moment, the last thing I wanted was to watch myself doing something I had just gotten done doing. I opened my door and waved to him, "Good night, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night Genevieve," Briar said, waving back to me. He turned on his heels and walked down the hallway.

I turned to my room, closing the door behind me. It reminded me of the room on the train. It was definitely made for a lavish Capital girl. I shed off the outfit that I had been wearing. I almost wished that I could keep the dragon clasp. I really liked it. There wasn't any point to keeping it though, not when I was going to die so soon. I sighed and looked to the bed where there was a set of pajamas laid out for me. I put them on and got under the covers, resting my head against the soft pillow. I felt myself drifting to sleep easily after such a day of activity.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Prepping To Get Ready**

I was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on my door. I sighed, not wanting to get out of bed. I nuzzled my face into my pillow, wishing that I could go back into my dreams just as easily as I had slipped into them. This bed was so much more comfortable than my own bed back home. The person knocked on my door once more and I groaned in protest, just wanting to rest for a few more minutes. I rolled out of bed and made my way to the door. I opened it, seeing Briar in front of me. "Ready for the interview?" He asked; a look of excitement on his face. He moved past me and set down a few bags on my bed. He took out the dress that he had designed for me yesterday and set it on the bed, "Here we are," He murmured before rummaging through another bag. He started to take out different palettes of make-up. "Sit," He said, gesturing towards the chair. "We have a lot of work to do." He glanced over at me with a smile, "I need to make sure that you look perfect."

I sat down in the chair that he told me to, waiting for him to set up his stuff. He stood in front of me after a moment just staring down at me. "Now, we want simple and innocent, right?"

I nodded, "That's what Aquamarine wants."

He nodded and starting picking out a few things before he started to work. He leaned forward, taking a brush. "Would you like me to help you with some interview questions?"

"How?" I asked, finding that my eyes closed even though he was working on my face, not my eyes.

"I'll ask you some questions and you answer them," Briar said, moving the brush so it went on the other side of my face.

"Sure," I said slowly, cracking one eye open to look up at him. I watched as he smiled before he dipped his brush into a small powder.

"Alright," He murmured. "How about, what was it like growing up for you?"

I took a breath, formulating my thoughts. "I'm an only child; I grew up in District 8. I had a mom and a dad, a fairly normal life." I shrugged and peeked up at him, wanting to see his reaction.

He shook his head and started moving his brush along my forehead. "You're going to have to explain more," He said. "You're going to want to craft a story so the sponsors and the Capital people fall in love with you." He sighed and moved away from my face to look at me directly. "The only way you're going to get sponsors is if they feel a connection between you and themselves. They can't feel anything if you don't talk about yourself. This is the only way you're going to be able to survive. Sponsors want to see their person survive, ok? That's the point of being a sponsor. You're going to need a lot, I know for a fact that Blye has more than you at the moment because he was more interesting than you."

"What?" I asked. I jerked my head up when I heard this, Blye had more sponsors than I did? "Why?" I asked, wondering what made him have more than I did.

"Like I said, hes more interesting. He was a Peacekeeper, what were you? Some girl who managed to escape the Capital's gaze? So what?" Briar put his hands on his hips and looked down at me, waiting for me to have a reaction.

"Oh," I said, realizing that Blye, in the eyes of the Capital, was better than I was because he was a part of the government. "So, that's why he gets more sponsors than I do?"

Briar nodded and leaned forward, starting to work on my makeup once more. "Correct," He said, smoothing out something on my cheeks. "Which means you have to work harder on the interviews."

I nodded and I felt Briar's hand under my chin. "Stay still," He scolded lightly though I could see his lips twitch up into a smile.

"So I should talk more about my life in the District?" I asked, trying to think of what else to say.

Briar nodded and moved back to his other things before picking up a different brush. "Let's try another question, how did you feel about the Games?"

I frowned and looked up at him. "Am I allowed to be honest in the interview?" I asked, wondering if they would really want to know my opinion on the Games.

Briar chuckled, "Please do, it would be a nice change from all the other Tributes that come through here." He paused before glancing down at me. "Besides, it's not like you have anything to lose if you say something the Gamemakers don't like. You might die anyway."

"Thanks Briar," I said sarcastically. "That's really encouraging." I thought about the winner and what would happen to them. Every year there was a winner but after they won, no one heard back from them. Of course there were rumors about what exactly happened to them, some say that there was some sort of procedure to make you not carry a wizarding gene anymore, making it almost impossible for a person to make any spells or have a child that was a witch or a wizard. Our technology was very advanced but I didn't think it was that advanced. There were other rumors that the winner was just killed in a more private setting, which seemed to make sense since they wanted all witches and wizards to die. We were the anomaly in this society. Years ago people that didn't have magic were called muggles and they didn't have to worry about witches and wizards because witches and wizards took great lengths to keep the magical community hidden from muggles. I knew why now, they really couldn't be trusted with knowing about this stuff.

"What's on your mind?" Briar asked as he applied something to my lips.

"The Games," I said, looking up at him. "What else would be on my mind?"

"I don't know," He replied softly, "Maybe you're thinking about how well you're going to do in the interview or how pretty you are." He chuckled softly and set down a brush.

"I'm not exactly nervous for the interview," I said, "I just have to be myself and answer a few questions, that's not too hard."

"You have to craft them so people like you though," Briar reminded me, picking something else up. "Close your eyes," He said.

I closed my eyes like he said, feeling a soft brush move across my eyelids. "I can be amicable," I countered. "I just don't want to make up a story that isn't who I am or what I'm like. I figure I either act as who I am or I better not even say anything."

"Well that an admirable trait," He murmured, his voice closer to me as he leaned in slightly. "I don't think I've ever had a Tribute like you, Genevieve."

"Really?" I asked, feeling him press down a bit harder on the brush when he came to the corner of my eye. "What were the others like?"

"Some were scared and didn't talk much. They usually died off pretty easily. Others were confident that they were going to win and would talk a big game. They would also be the ones to die first. You're a good combination of the two spectrums. You have something they don't, you have some sort of fire from you. Some burning passion. I can't tell exactly what it is, but I'm glad that you have it." His voice moved away for a moment and then he returned, moving the brush over my other eyelid. "You might just survive."

"You think so?" I asked, wondering if he was just saying that because he was my stylist.

"Yeah, I do think so," He said. "Ok," He said, "Open your eyes, you're done."

I opened my eyes like he said and glanced into the mirror he held up for me. He had put light pink eye shadow on, none of the make up was too heavy, giving me a more natural look. I looked up at Briar, "Thanks," I said, "Not just for the make up, the advice was great too."

He nodded and waved his hand at me, "Not a problem," He said. He stood and picked up my dress. "So, get dressed and I'll be waiting outside." He handed me the dress and then walked out of my room, closing the door behind him.


End file.
